Oceanside has approved more land surveys needed to acquire property for a long-sought extension of Melrose Drive, a project that some residents say is too expensive and unnecessary.

The extension is the 3,000-foot-long missing link between North Santa Fe Avenue and Spur Avenue at the Oceanside-Vista border. It would complete the north-south Melrose route between state routes 78 and 76.

Opponents of the idea say that, at an estimated cost of about $42 million, the Melrose project would do little to improve traffic and would take money from more important capital improvements, such as unfinished sections of the Coastal Rail Trail.

Construction would require the city to obtain several pieces of private property and a small part of the eastern end of Guajome Regional Park.

Councilwoman Esther Sanchez cast the only vote last month against updating the city’s surveying contract with NV5, a national engineering and consulting firm with a San Diego office. The change hikes the original $50,000 contract approved July 25, 2017, to a maximum of $168,612.

Sanchez called the contract “a waste of valuable and finite taxpayer funds” and said there are less expensive alternatives that would provide better access to Route 76.

A survey of 500 Oceanside residents showed most of them want the extension, Councilman Jack Feller said.

“I’ve supported the extension of Melrose and the opening of every road we can to benefit Oceanside residents,” Feller said. “Some of the users might be from out of town, but it takes them off other roads, and that’s an important thing.”

He and other council members said the project deserves more study, and that additional approvals would be needed before construction could begin.

“The reality is this project should have been completed many, many years ago at a much lower cost,” said Councilman Chris Rodriguez.

The failure to complete the Melrose work has created unnecessary “tensions and problems,” he said, and it’s time to proceed with the work.

The idea has been kicked about for at least 15 years. There was a setback in 2004, when the council voted 3-2 to drop funding for engineering studies needed for the project. Councilman Jack Feller tried to place the proposal on the ballot in 2006, but his motion failed by a 3-2 vote.

Another hurdle popped up in 2011, when the nonprofit Preserve Calavera filed a lawsuit challenging an environmental impact report for the project saying that, among other things, it failed to consider the environmental effects on Guajome Regional Park. A settlement reached later that year required the city to limit the 3,000-foot extension to four lanes instead of six, reducing the footprint of the project.

At the time, city officials said their tentative plan was to finish construction by 2030. The plan included a 4-foot median, 6-foot-wide bike lanes on each side of Melrose, a 10-foot-wide sidewalk on one side, and a 10-foot-wide trail on the other side.

A proposal to spend $1.4 million on additional design and environmental work for the contract was approved in 2012 by a 3-2 vote with then-Mayor Jim Wood and Sanchez opposed to the road project.